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The Atheist Society of Nigeria (ASN) is battling medical practitioners in Nigeria who believe in faith healing over what it addressed as “unethical medical practices”.
In a petition signed by Leo Igwe and sent to Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, ASN draws attention to the perceived unethical and unprofessional practices of medical doctors, especially of the Christian faith, across the country.
The agnostic organization expressed alarm over “various harmful medical practices” by doctors. It noted that “doctors encourage unscientific treatment processes by referring their patients to faith healers”.
“We have observed over a period these unprofessional practices and conducts. Doctors/healthcare professionals refer in/out-patients to a “strong” faith healer of their choice/choosing.
“Doctors/healthcare professionals go to places of worship in their professional capacity to uphold accounts of bogus, unverifiable and unscientific claims of faith healings of all sorts.
“Doctors/healthcare professionals give patients and their families a reason to abandon the professional medical advice of experts for the solutions of snake oil salesmen,” the atheist society petitioned.
TheNewsGuru can report Nigerian doctors, who are religious, take their faith in God seriously. They believe that sick persons could be cured through supernatural means. So many of Christian doctors, hence, refer patients to faith healers for treatment.
But ASN in the petition said “Doctors indulge in these practices because they lack the requisite medical training and equipment to treat these ailments,” adding “Unfortunately, a popular inscription that is often displayed at public and private medical centres in Nigeria does not help the situation. It reads: “We cure, God heals”.
ASN says “This saying gives credence to faith healing and magical therapies even when such claims are based on flimsy evidence and hearsay. So, in situations where doctors are unable to provide effective treatment, they send patients to faith clinics so that God would heal them”.
The “unprofessional practices” by Christian doctors had done enormous damage to the health and well-being of many Nigerians because these patients end up suffering further health damage or eventual death in the hands of faith healers, ASN said in the petition.
It stated that these unwholesome practices have done a great disservice to the medical profession in the country, and urged the council to take the following measures to address the situation:
“Issue a swift and strong response by way of a publication to the public denouncing these practices to set the record straight on where you stand.
“Read out the riot act to members of your esteemed profession engaged in these ignoble practices to desist from such practices forthwith.
“Take proactive measures to provide for strict disciplinary measures and penalties in the Code of Medical Ethics in Nigeria, if there is no such existing provision to tackle the rise of these ignoble and unprofessional practices”.
“There is no doubt that combating these unprofessional practices by doctors will be difficult and would require the concerted efforts of other organizations. But this petition should at least serve as a wake-up call to the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria,” ASN said in the petition.
“Also, it should get the council and doctors across the country to understand that there are Nigerians who are watching and who are unhappy with these developments.
“ASN, which was recently incorporated in Nigeria, has proposed to work with the council in disseminating evidence-based health/medical information to the Nigerian public and to take other measures to stamp out this alarming trend in the medical sector.
“I hope the council will welcome this opportunity to partner with the ASN towards ensuring ethical and scientific medical practices in Nigeria. Faith healing is a fake and fraudulent cure claim and has no place in the medical practice in the country,” the petition concluded.
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria is yet to comment on the matter.